Hell's Fire Part 3: Burning Nightmares
by Virgin Queen 15
Summary: Final Part to Hell's Fire...Jareth has been stolen by the Grim Reeper, a youthful immortal with strange intentions. Sarah is devastated and starts the final journey in their story where she must rescue the Goblin King, the man she loves, from Death...
1. Chapter 1

**Here it is goblins! Part three! I hope you enjoy it! Thank you so much for sticking with the story through all the twists and turns! I am forever grateful! Love you!**

Chapter 1: It's a Present

Silvery showers were pouring over the sandy Labyrinth and it chilled the kingdom silly. Sillier, should be said rather then just silly. The rain was not so strange, but the texture of it was odd, thicker and almost like it was made more of minerals, hard and stony then liquid. The goblin inhabitants were perturbed by its feel, and they were worried by what it meant. There were few things that could worry a goblin… But the death of their king was one thing.

"Sarah?" Jareth had her struggling to move free of his arms and a cold air had settled over the room. "There's no one in the room."

Sarah wrenched herself free and dove for the twitching figure in the darkness. But just as she reached it, it moved and she crashed into the wall. Head throbbing she flipped herself over and the shadow was above her, floating in the blackest robes she'd ever seen, a white face glowing from inside the security of the hood. Hundreds of thin, wiry braids were hanging from the hood. They were a dull red color, like dried blood.

"Who are you?" Sarah screamed, her words more feverish then she could ever remember them being before in her life. "What do you want?"

The voice that came from the shadow and the milky distorted face was like a warm wind, soft and whispery, but haunting in a way Sarah couldn't fathom. The creature suspended above her was not a mortal but not an immortal. It was much stranger, the ghost of the in-between and the child of Limbo. God knew Sarah had had enough of Limbo. "I've come for what was asked for."

"I don't understand."

A hand made of bones and charred muscles strings moved free of the spinning insanity of the shadow and pointed to where Jareth lay. Sarah followed the hand and gasped. On the bed Jareth had collapsed, a sheen of sweat sprung from his skin which had paled.

"Jareth!" Sarah sprung to her feet and was at his side. His eyes were half open and spinning in his skull. He whispered her name through his peeling, chalky lips.

"You see, Sarah," the shadow was at her ear and it froze her body. "I have been promised certain souls and when my promised souls are not given to me, I take another."

"You…y-you can't have him." Sarah could barely force the words out of her mouth, it was dry and her tongue felt enlarged and swollen beyond use.

"It's a long process; I have to drain him of his immortality, like draining him of blood. But it is a painful way to die. After his power has been diminished all I have to do…" The strange spirit swooped downward so they were lying alongside his body. The bony hand reached for the amulet around his neck and yanked it off. They tossed it away and Sarah picked it up, watching the spirit with a furious eye. A long pointed nail of the bone-hand slit a cut on Jareth's lower lip and bright little red drops bloomed on the white of his flesh. All in one movement the hood was tossed free of the spirit's head and the small heart-shaped face of a girl who hardly looked twelve was exposed to the dim light. The child had huge eyes, gold with silvery glints. A full head of red curls and braids were tangled about her face and they hung in large chunks all down her back. Sarah gasped as the child leaned down and kissed the king, taking in the blood into her body. When the blood-drenched kiss ended Sarah was nothing but a ghost of a woman, swaying as the realization hit her.

"You're Death." She choked on bile that rose from within her and she fell to the ground, weak and sick.

"Ha! Clever child and you do know whose soul I was promised that I no longer can take?" She licked her lips, dyed red.

Sarah's eyes widened and she rose to her knees. "Please! Take me instead of him! Please!"

"I cannot, now, now sweet pea! No need to cry! I will give him a sweet death." She smoothed Sarah's hair out of her face, leaning over Jareth's body to reach her. What she hadn't considered was the fact that Jareth was still alive and he erupted beneath her, throwing her to the floor.

"Sarah!" He had a grip on her wrist and was starting to gather his glittering magic when Death froze all of time and the darkness grew heavier until they could not even see their own faces in front of one and other.

"Jareth?" His arms moved to hold her; they smoothed her wrinkled gown and warmed her.

"Sarah, I love you." His touch began to soften and she realized that he was vanishing, or maybe she was? But at the last moment he shoved something into her hands, a shape unfamiliar and rough. Then he was gone and she was floating alone in some vacant space, which became a soft bed and became her bedroom. Aboveground.

"No!" She jumped up. Nothing had changed. Her room was the same. Inside her the feeling that her entire Underground and Hell experience was a very long, feverish dream. But the ring she felt on her left hand ring finger told her otherwise and the blue gown she'd fallen asleep in with Jareth confirmed it all. She looked down at her hands where the object Jareth had given her lay, wrapped up in rough lacey material. She quickly untied the mess and found the violet crystal. The one she had given Jareth as a gift. With it were two necklaces, one his amulet, and the second the one he'd given her to match his. She tied both of them around her neck absently.

"Why this?" She asked the air. "Why did you leave me with only this?" She looked to her mirror and called Hoggle's name. When there was no answer she tried Dydimus, then Ludo. Then she even got up and tried to walk through the mirror herself. That only gave her a bruise and a worse temper then before. "Uuuugh! This isn't fair! We did right! We saved each other! We went through Hell! Literally! Is this some sort of joke?" She fell to her knees at the mirror and swung her fist at it. A bit too hard and it shattered into a thousand glittering pieces around her.

"Damn." She stood and brushed shards from her gown. Then she noticed movement, only slight movement, in the broken mirror bits all over the carpet. She dove to the ground to watch as she saw tiny faces, people, bodies and gowns and dress-shirts glinting in the glass.

_Sarah._

"Jareth! Are you there?"

_I love you…_

"No!" She gathered up the shards in her hands and squeezed them, trying to fall back into Underground.

"Sarah!"

"Irvus?" Sarah turned and saw the Dark King, Radiance at his side. Sarah felt her anger swell up inside her and then she stood. "How could you? After all we had been through, you took him from me!" She exploded and white flames began to leak off her skin. Irvus looked appalled.

"I did nothing!" He said, watching the flames warily. "It was my mother! She sent my half-sister!"

"Where is he Irvus!" Sarah screamed and a bolt of lightning whipped across her tiny bedroom and shot into his throat. As though it were a hand it lifted him, struggling upward as she screamed.

Radiance silenced Sarah, placing her soft hands on her shoulders. Sarah turned to the girl.

"I can show you the way, Irvus doesn't know."

The beam of lightning was abruptly cut and the king fell to the floor with a thump. He glared at Sarah through his shaggy hair.

"Irvus open the gate," His wife ordered. He stood and angrily turned to the clear wall in Sarah's room. He touched the wallpaper with his little finger and it blinked and a wide gaping door broke the wall paper and replaced Sarah's wall.

"My Lady Death lives in a very strange world, Sarah." Radiance said. "I will take you there if you like. I know the way."

"Yes," Sarah said. "Please take me there!"

The once cat-girl smiled and Sarah saw that there was still a hint of feline quality in her. The Dark King brushed his hair from his eyes. "You may want to change, Sarah." He said. "You too my dear."

Sarah retreated to the bathroom, listening to Radiance declare proudly. "I always wear my robes, I shall wear nothing else!"

"But you wear nothing under them!" Irvus complained.

Sarah fought the bitter tears that followed as their laughter chased her down the hall.

Jareth had been floating in the murky clouds for so long. His skin was slick with his sweat, the fever inside him rising in temperature slowly.

When at last he felt himself land on the earth it was not solid ground he landed on, but instead cool moss. The clouds moved away into nothing revealing a field of moss, endless tangles of green and thorns and vines. He cursed, loudly and up from the vines popped a bright blue face with huge black eyes and a heart-shaped nose.

"Hello!" The creature said and Jareth stopped, mid-curse. He stared at the thing, cat-like as it was, covered in blue fur. Rounded ears sprouted tufts of yellow fur. A curved smile exposed very square, very human teeth… that were bright orange. Jareth shook his head and fell back into the moss.

"Why does this stuff always happen to me?" He mumbled.

"Cindy! Who's that?" A low, feminine voice made Jareth sit up and he found a woman standing near him, the blue cat at her heels. She wore a sky blue dress that stopped a few inches above the ankle and a dirty white apron that covered her very pregnant belly. Her yellow hair was a curly mess half tied up under a midnight blue hat with a cerulean blue train of silk, while the other half hung free down to her hips. She had dark eyes, he couldn't tell if they were blue or brown, and she was frowning at him in a thin-lipped way.

"Why! Peaches and cream! We got the Prince of Underground with us!" She burst out and the frown changed, transforming her face from curiously bland to beautiful.

"You know my title?" Jareth asked, confused.

"Well, a'course I do!" She said, smiled. "I should fetch Maddy, he'll know what to do with you."

"Maddy?" Jareth blinked.

Her hand flew to her mouth, "Oh! There I go again, forgetting my manners! Always with royalty too. My name is Alice, Alice Hatter. Maddy's my husband! Oh, you may have met him. But you'd only know his title, Sir Mad Hatter. I wonder if you met him? Don't just lay in that moss! Come on up, now there's a lad. Fancy threads you got, bit rumpled if you don't mind me saying."

Jareth wasn't sure what to say. But he wasn't given an opportunity. The girl turned on her heel and started walking down the mossy path, strange cat in tow. Jareth stumbled dizzily at first, his head throbbing and followed, listening to her gab as she walked. He wondered if it was her hormones working against her or if she was always so damn chatty.

Neither of them, or the blue cat noticed the small red-headed child lurking behind them as they walked. But Jareth felt the same crippling weakness over his body as he felt when Death was near him. He prayed quietly that where ever she was, Sarah was alright. With Death hunting them there was no way of knowing what was safe and what was deadly.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: No one can Blame You

Alice Hatter led Jareth to a house, yet it didn't really appear as normal houses do. It was shaped like a hat. With large windows, a large garden and a very small mailbox shaped like a goblin's face, with it's mouth open to receive mail. Inside the house was very neat, kept well and had furniture all shaped or alluding to the shape of every different sort of hat one could imagine.

"Now, you just sit down, dearie and I'll fetch Maddy for you. He should be here somewhere." Alice's voice came from another room as she trotted away but Jareth didn't bother to listen, he was more concerned on where exactly he was and why his head was throbbing so.

He sat down tiredly on a chair, it's soft cushion a delight on his aching muscles. Weary, yet anxious he conjured up a crystal and whispered Sarah's name. Her image appeared. She was dressing. He blushed very softly then a smile peeked up on his lips before he shook the crystal away. She didn't look very happy.

"Here he is!" The woman reappeared, a very tall, wiry man in tow. He was wearing a blue suit, and a very bright yellow hat with sheer lace as a trim. The man himself was rather pale, with striking features and a puckered lower lip that was a bit too large. His teeth were crooked, as was his smile though it was a pleasant smile. His hair was black, almost blue in the light shining from a lamp made of hats and it stuck out in every which direction all curls and tangled mess. The two made a very fine couple, if both a little odd looking.

"Where did you get this fellow, Lacey?" Maddy asked, laughing at his wife. "He looks as though he dropped out of the sky."

"Cindy says that he did!" Alice…Lacey laughed.

"By Jove!"

"By me!" Lacey did a fluttering dance and galloped off. Jareth stared in awkward amazement after the girl. He wondered if it was possible for a woman with child to be able to shake the baby out of her body with such mad excitement. Upon the exiting of his wife Maddy seemed to calm, though a tremor in his oversized lip made Jareth wonder if he was calm or just… very insane.

"Well, how is it you have come to the Middleverse?" Maddy asked.

"Middleverse?" Jareth asked. "I am King of the Goblins, High Prince of Underground. I've never heard of Middleverse."

"Oh-ho! Never heard of Middleverse… What a clueless High King you will turn out to be!" Maddy took a seat on a chair across from Jareth. "Though not many have heard of here…come to remembering only a few folk ever travel. Lacey did, bless her soul, she's not from around here but she really fits the trousers for it."

Jareth wondered if he had died and gone to Limbo again. He pinched his arm. And frowned when he found he was still alive.

"How did I get here?" He asked, rubbing the red mark on his arm.

Maddy shrugged, "Did you have any enemies who wanted to be rid of ye? If so, then I would bet my best hat that they put ye here for safe keeping."

"Who rules this place?"

Maddy laughed, "Oh, we have folks who call themselves kings and some who call themselves queens, though we never really have any government about this place."

Jareth shook his head in puzzlement.

Maddy continued, "Though if it's a person who knows what they're doing you're looking for, try the Red Lady. She may be a chip of a thing, sweet child, but she knows how to get where and such. She can probably help you."

"Where is the Red Lady?" Jareth asked and stood from his chair.

Maddy shrugged. From another room Lacey appeared again and took a seat on her husband's lap.

"Did I hear you mention the Red Lady?" She asked.

"Yes, he's looking to find her."

"I'm sure Mim can take him, he always knows where she is."

"Mim! I hadn't thought of that little rodent! Where is the mouse?" Maddy asked exuberant in the realization.

"Did someone call my name?" A queer little voice squeaked from under a couch that was sitting at the far wall to the left of Jareth. From under it a small man, hardly longer then Jareth's long finger, crawled out on all fours then stood upright with big grey eyes staring at Jareth under a mess of curly white hair that covered half of his face in it's mass. He wore a waist coat the color of rotting cherries and tight little trousers that were a dusty blue. He wore no shoes, but appeared to be without need of them, his great feet were rough and hairy, worn like shoes rather then working appendages.

"Mim, dear, this fellow needs to find the Red Lady, take him there for us." Maddy said.

The man nodded quickly and began a mad dash for the door.

"Best go quickly now Mr. Prince," Said Lacey smiling, "He's a spot speedy."

Jareth made a bolt after the mouse-man out onto the path leading away from the house back to the moss field. Then he made a couple of seemingly pointless turns and Jareth found they had entered a grove, full of white blossoming apple trees he had not seen until the moment he was lost in them.

Then Mim made a stop, so abrupt Jareth almost stepped on him.

"Is this the place?" Jareth asked, looking down at the little man.

"Yes, yes." Mim said. "Red Lady lives in the largest apple tree. There." A hand pointed toward what was indeed the roundest most beautiful apple tree so alive and lush with blossoms it reminded Jareth of the day he spotted Sarah in the park, dressed up in her costume, reciting from a play. It made his chest heart. He put aside the feelings, ready to face this mysterious Red Lady.

When he looked down to ask Mim how to find the door the man had vanished away and Jareth was quite alone. Confused, his head more sore then ever by the mysterious headache he moved to stand by the tree. The bark was very fine, smooth and emanated a sort of sweet smell that dizzied him. He ran a finger over it, feeling its texture, memorizing it for his own benefit. His finger poked across a groove in the bark that grew soft under his touch. Had he not been paying attention he wouldn't have felt the give. He pressed harder until there was a strange click and it moved no deeper into the bark. The shape of the groove was that of an upside down heart.

A low rumbling made him jump back from the tree and he clenched his hands into fists, ready to harm whatever creature burst through the opening starting to form in the bark.

But his fists were dropped at the sound of a queer little voice he thought he had heard before.

"You may have knocked," It said. "Your chances of meeting me in a fine mood would have been great."

A tiny heart shaped face came from the darkness of the opening. It was pale and feminine, though it looked hardly twelve years old. The creature that belonged to the face was a graceful one, long limbed and pale as cream, dressed in a pale pink gown of a strange flowing material that in texture seemed like liquid. She had wild red hair. It was the hair, a tangle of blood colored curls that fanned from her face like an aura of life and flame that made Jareth recognize her.

Stumbling from Death he tripped and landed on the earth, hard and rocky. She watched him, puzzled it seemed, than concern came across your face.

"I am so sorry!" She exclaimed. Falling down on her knees on the roots of her tree-home, tears that were bright blue streamed down her face, though they left no trail of shine in their wake. "I did not recognize you! Poor dear…let me explain…"

Jareth saw he had a chance. He flung himself at her, keen on tackling her to the ground and demanding the way out of this world. But his plan backfired. At the instant he collided with her she snatched hold of his arm, her grip strong enough to snap it if she so chose. He fell to the ground at her feet in embarrassed shambles. She had overpowered him, the King of the Goblins, the Prince of Underground, with the flick of her delicate wrist.

"Best not try that again, king-child." She said with a dangerous growl. Her eyes, silvery gold, glinted with a rage he found he feared. He never feared anything. How could he fear this creature, this child? Grimacing darkly, he shrugged free of her hold, surprised it didn't take much force when she relaxed her strength. She smiled suddenly, and it was a fierce expression to be seen. "Now, I've made my honest apologies. So we can be friends from this point on." She stood and to his surprise a shower of blue tear-shaped crystals fell from around her.

"Your tears…" He whispered and plucked up one between his pointer finger and middle finger. He watched it glisten coldly in the mocking bright sunshine. Or was it sunshine…?

"I cry tears of ice," She said. "But at least I have tears."

Tossing her fine fiery curls she turned impatiently toward the black entrance of the tree. He looked up at her from where he sat, the tear melted in his hold into a slippery shrinking dribble of half-frozen water. He raised it to his lips before it was too late to taste the dreams.

Agony. Burning twisting flamed agony ripped through him and he shrieked and was thrown against the ground as the images of a thousand faces, charred dead faces swept across his bleeding eyes. He clutched at his throat, where a waking monster of sound was scratching but no sound came and the monster writhed in it's captivity.

Then a cold hand touched him gently and all the dreams and nightmares were gone in an instant and before him was the face of the girl, her hair creating a curtain around their faces.

"Best not to taste the tears of Death again, king-child." The nickname sent a slight agitation through him that passed almost unnoticed. "It's got a poison about it."

"Oh…" He whispered.

"Come with me," She said. By the sound of her voice he had no options otherwise.

He stood weakly, his head was aching very bad now, and he followed her into the endless cave that the tree opened to.

Sarah was being dragged through hell. Not the literal Hell. But a tremulous endless twisting cavern of such insanities that she almost wished to be trailing through Hell again. Radiance was humming softly, not nearly as uncomfortable with the journey through Eshker as Sarah was. Eshker was the Tunnel of Turvay, the place of turns meeting curves meeting circles meeting dead ends. It was a labyrinth of it's own kind. A confused living thing Sarah couldn't make herself understand and had no care to.

She struggled even to describe it. It was so wrought with colors and lights and sudden darkness that she at times of floating through it's half liquid half solid air she felt compelled to close her eyes. Radiance's hand kept her in tune with reality…though just barely. She was aching inside, her spirit was exhausted beyond all measures and all she wanted was Jareth to be safe and alive and in her arms again. This was the conviction she survived on at this point. Though she could feel a heavy sleepiness beginning to cloud her mind, and she wondered if it was by the will of Persephone that she should be so deadly weak now, when she was so needed. Her life felt like some sort of sick joke, like a story concocted by some mad prisoner of a torturous institution. Laughing darkly at the thought she drew the attention of her companion who snorted and mumbled something about _crazy people these days are ten a penny_. To this Sarah snorted and wanted very much to let go of Radiance's hand but was afraid of what may happen if she let go and was flung from one end of this vibrant, pulsing universe to the other.

"When will we get there?" She managed to cry over the rush of the wind.

The robed woman turned her head only slightly to answer. "We'll get there when we get there."

"Great…" They surged toward a gaping darkness that swallowed them for a brief moment and then Sarah was thrown, still clutching Radiance's hand to the… ground?

"What…" She fumbled in the darkness. Her cheek burned from where it hit the hard, smooth floor beneath them.

"Something is wrong." Radiance's voice came from somewhere near Sarah's left. There was honest fear in it.

"What's happened?" Sarah tried unsuccessfully to mask her own horror at being blind and defenseless in the dark, in the nothingness.

"Someone has trapped us, only temporarily, but this will take some power to break through."

Sarah felt the same magic begin to flow through her that had come when Irvus had appeared in her bedroom. From her fingers shot the fattest sparks of white flames that curled around her fingers then trailed up her arms. The nothingness was lit to reveal exactly what was there: nothing. Groaning, Sarah smashed her fists down onto the ground and it cracked under her force. The last thing she remembered was hearing Radiance scream as they tumbled downward into a great blue light.

Jareth felt her hand first as it took hold of his and dragged him into the tree, then again he felt her hand on the small of his back, urging him forward through the dark until he walked into a wall of a smooth hard texture.

"Walk through it slowly," She ordered. "Or you may become trapped and then I cannot help you further."

He did as she instructed and found the obstacle smooth as air and just as easy to walk through. When he reached the other side he was temporarily blinded by the light, then his eyes adjusted. The room around him was beautiful. The walls were covered in a simple pale pink colored wall paper with rosebuds trimming the ceiling and floor. He wondered if they were real, the certainly looked it. There was a giant chair, made entirely of what looked like rose quartz and he watched as Death settled herself happily on it's soft satin cushion. She watched his inspection of the room.

Wary, but not disinterested by the sights he continued to gaze at each little trinket. There was a window at the far wall, made entirely of stain glass. The image was of a rose that bloomed then wilted, then was reborn again. Glass beads varying in color from rose red to pale pink, near amber then clear or filmy white hung from the ceiling on their own mysterious accord. The floor below him was made of marble. Every article of furniture was rosewood with silky pink cushions of something of a similar nature.

Death laughed playfully. "You did not think this is how death would keep her home, did you?"

He gave her a hard glance. For all her child-like bemusements an smiles, he had to remember she was Death. And she was responsible for his separation from Sarah. Rubbing his temple reminded again of the ache in his head he shook a 'no' to her question.

"I thought so…" And here is where there was a slight pause and then she gave him a stern, cold grimace. "I can't help you. With your illness, or getting out of here. I have the power, don't doubt me there, but I shall not help you none."

He raised an eyebrow. "I did not think you would be the Red Lady. So it seems that I will have to take my leave and find some other soul to help me." He turned for the door…but it was gone. He spun around to look to her and found her smiling sadly.

"You won't be doing that, king-child," She said. The sadness in her smile did not reach her voice. "You are trapped here now, until its time for the soul-separation. Then you can go where you like." Then the sadness left her smile all together.

He did not answer her. He looked back at the blank wall where the door had once been.

"You can call me Rose," She said quietly. He turned to find her standing just beside him, looking up at him with sad, young eyes. There was a pleading in her voice. "It was my first name, before they called me Morta. I don't like that name."

"…I shall call you Rose then." He answered. He spotted a scar on her chest, which her dress just missed concealing, and it drew his attention. It looked like claw marks set very deep. They looked as though they had been greatly painful. He drew his eyes away, wondering if she noticed.

"I hope we may be friends." She said and her smile returned. "I wouldn't like it if we weren't."

He gave her a tight-lipped frown.

"Oh, don't be bitter," She grumbled and frowned at him. A dimple by her left eye came to life. "It won't hurt."

"What?" Shaken he stumbled back from her.

She held out her hand, as though to touch the air where he once stood. "Dying, that's what's happening to you. Your head is hurting, no?"

His hand flew up to his skull, the burning ache a constant force of pain.

"I thought so," She said and smoothed her dress. "Your immortality will take a while to diminish. After that you'll be so weak that dying will hardly be a trouble."

"How can you speak so carelessly of this?" He asked fiercely.

"It is my life, my everyday routine. Why should I care?" She turned from him and tapped a crystal in the shape of a heart that sat on a bronze pedestal. It glowed and she closed her eyes. "I must go fetch souls now, my break is over. You'll find doors if you look, but none will lead you free. But you can search my home as you like."

She moved to the center of the room and stood with her arms stretched outward, fingers straight and wide. Then a black magic seeped from her fingertips and very soon she was clothed in a mantel of torn skin and muscle and tendons. Then her robes were felled from some great hidden place and she was clothed for her death march.

"I'll return soon, king-child." She said and was gone before he could stop her. Not as though he may have tried.


End file.
